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Update on Student Mental Health

on Monday, 16 July 2018.

At a summit in Bristol on 28 June 2018, Higher Education Minister, Sam Gyimah, announced that HE providers which meet new standards of mental health care will be rewarded with certificates of excellence.

The initiative, which comes at a time when recognition of the importance of mental health in the sector has never been greater, aims to reinforce the message that higher education is about more than just academic study. It is a leadership issue that must be addressed by Vice-Chancellors at an institutional level.

A new student mental health charter will set out the criteria that providers need to meet in order to demonstrate that adequate student and staff mental health support measures are in place. The project is supported by a £100,000 grant from the University Partnerships Programme (UPP) and will be led by the charity Student Minds with input from the Office for Students, National Union of Students and Universities UK.

Having been the first DfE minister with specific responsibility for mental health before assuming his current role, Mr Gyimah is well-placed to advocate change in this area. Not everyone is likely to agree with his view that universities should see themselves 'in loco parentis' in relation to their (predominantly adult) students but more promising is the proposed implementation of an opt-in alert system where students may, if they want to, authorise their HEI to contact their parents in the event of a mental health emergency. This would overcome data protection restrictions and, in theory at least, enable those who know a student best to intervene at an early stage if needed.

A DfE working group will also consider the role that universities can play in supporting students through the transition from school to higher education. In due course, recommendations will be provided to schools, colleges and universities. As students are known to be particularly vulnerable to mental health issues when they first become freshers this is welcome news. It is also consistent with the recognised need to take a more joined up approach to mental health issues generally, be that through the better co-ordination of university and NHS services or ensuring there is access to the support needed throughout the student 'life cycle'.


For further information please contact Kris Robbetts in our Higher Education team on 0117 314 5427.

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